Hidden Foe
by Beloved Dawn
Summary: One one else found the appearance of a dismal, forest covered hill in the middle of Juuban suspicious, but Kino Makoto knew better. It was evil, as was the man who lived there.


"Okay, this is just weird. Are you sure _none_ of you think there's anything odd about the fact that a Dark Hill of Doom just suddenly appeared? Or that it swallowed a park?" The girl put her hands on her hips and glared at her classmates, who cowered slightly before her. That just annoyed her more. She'd never hurt any of them, just one upperclassman who was quite rude. Standing up for herself shouldn't make them all fear her, yet it did.

Part of it, she knew, was that she towered over them. They knew what she _could_ do, and assumed that it's what she _would _do. After all, they would. They couldn't seem to see that she didn't want them to fear her.

She'd much rather they feared the Creepy Haunted Mansion and its Dark, Evil Forest. But no. They feared her and ignored the Malevolent Disappearing Mountain.

Stupid classmates. They almost deserved what was happening to them.

Except... they really didn't. One weird incident had involved a couple of elementary school kids. Another had targeted a girl who really was a nice person, turning her into an anti-social monster. And picking on brides...

She was pretty sure she knew who was behind all this trouble. After all, he was the only person she'd ever seen go up to the Cursed Hall of Despair. Masato Sanjoin, supposed businessman, supposed tennis coach, supposed doll aficionado, supposed anime fan.

Known jerkface.

After all, she'd met him. Only for a brief moment, but that was enough.

She, Kino Makoto, had been seized with an emotion she'd never really felt before. Complete, total loathing. For a man she'd never talked to.

For a _handsome_ man she'd never talked to. Which, for her, went beyond odd. It smacked of truly bizarre. He'd been kicking around town for months now, and no one thought either him or his Giant Dirt Pile of Weird was out of place here.

She knew better. It had been her favourite park that he'd plopped his Mound of Malignant Atrocity. Her parents had taken her there. She'd loved it there. She woke from dreams of the trees she loved crying out for light and water, air and nutrients.

The part that disturbed her the most was that, if it wasn't for her trees wailing in confused despair over the diabolic energy now infusing them, she'd have not thought about it either. There was something, some minor misdirection, that warned her not to think to hard on who this Mysterious, Cruel Subverter actually was.

There were signs he wasn't who he said he was, and she saw all of them. For one, the idiot owned a gorgeous car, but couldn't drive a lick. Now, this may have been like Pretty Woman, but she had the feeling that wasn't it. It wasn't a real car. The tires had no treads, for one.

Maybe that was why he skidded all over the road like he owned the stupid thing.

She almost mentioned his bald tires to him, but he shot her a look that made her keep her mouth shut. Not that it had cowed her or anything, but she seriously couldn't get her mouth open. Then his look had turned both puzzled and faintly hostile. Suddenly, she'd gotten the feeling that it would be a very, very bad idea for him to notice her.

_The others would be okay. _They_ are all completely under _her_ control. But not him. He's doing this to prove he can, to himself only. He's not so subjugated._

And wasn't _that_ a crazy thought? She had no idea who the others were, no more than she could remember _them _or _her_. However, she was distracted from analyzing the strange idea by a sudden wave of angry loathing that felt personal. At that moment, she hated him more than she ever thought she could hate a person.

That hate continued to fester in her. She couldn't shake it. Some of it even transferred to his nemesis, the Sailor Senshi. Really, couldn't they tell that his Evil Overlord Palace/ Observatory (he had some weird connection to the stars. It was kind of creepy, actually) was Transporting Scenery: Mount Ominous.

Mount Ominous. She liked the sound of that. Now she just had to come up with a name she liked for him. Sleazeball just wasn't bad enough. Apparently, the work of her thesaurus wasn't done yet.

Yet today, she felt odd. Like something was going to happen. And that something revolved around _him_. And yet, the trees were calm. They were no longer angry.

Suddenly she felt refreshed, as if she knew there was a storm that could wash everything he was away from the earth that she loved. And it was coming.

She felt like she'd never have to worry about the Treasonous Patrician of Manipulation and Pain. She smiled. It was a good name for him. It was what he was, after all.

She smiled as she went home, basking in the presence of cool leaves and happy foliage. It was as if, now that she'd identified all he was, she didn't have to worry about him any more. She felt the misdirection coming back over her mind, and she didn't fight it. She didn't have to be afraid of him anymore. She didn't even care at that moment that she'd just been kicked out of school for fighting. Her world was peaceful, for the first time in months. She looked up at the sky. "A storm is coming."

* * *

_I was re-watching some episodes involving these two in an attempt to get a handle on their personalities. Instead, i just got annoyed at how 'Mount Ominous' went completely ignored. So this was born. Plus I found him even more despicable, since he was harming people for himself, not even on orders. Plus he almost recognized Mamoru, which means his memories aren't that deeply hidden. So I made Mako mad with me._


End file.
